Saying It With Flowers

Michael Parrella, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, was recently inducted into the California Floriculture Hall of Fame at a ceremony in San Diego.

Mike Mellano Sr., of Mellano & Company, Oceanside, presented Parrella with the plaque. Mellano was himself inducted into the California Floriculture Hall of Fame in 1990.

"I've known Mike since he came to California in the early '80s," Mellano said. "He first began working with us on the leafminer and chrysanthemum project, and has been doing a lot of work for the growers."

"He is a world-class scientist and has done a lot for the industry," Mellano said, adding "My only regret is that we weren't able to get more funding for him."

Parrella, who holds a joint appointment in the Department of Plant Sciences, develops integrated pest management (IPM) strategies for ornamental crops, with an emphasis on biological control. He is widely known for his applied research that that includes floriculture crops, nursery and bedding plants and landscape plants in the urban environment. In 1985, he initiated what has become an annual conference on insect and disease management on ornamentals. The event is sponsored by the Society of American Florists.

The names of hall of fame inductees will be engraved on permanent plaques at the San Francisco Flower Market, the Los Angeles Flower Market and the San Diego International Floral Trade Center. (Michael Reid, an emeritus professor of plant sciences, UC Davis, will be inducted later this year.)

San Francisco...Los Angeles...San Diego...

Nice!

Floriculture Hall of Fame

HALL OF FAME--Michael Parrella (right), professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, was inducted into the California Floriculture Hall of Fame on Feb. 25 in San Diego. With him is presenter Mike Mellano Sr., of Mellano & Company, Oceanside. Mellano was inducted into the Floriculture Hall of Fame in 1990. (Photo Courtesy of Debi Aker)

Yellow Rose

THIS YELLOW ROSE is almost ready to become a cut flower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Rose Weevil

THIS IS one of the pests that rose growers hate to see. It's a rose curculio or rose weevil. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)